"...For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us" Luke 1:76-78

God moves in mysterious ways! Our search for an airplane for ministry has taken us all over Alaska, and we have finally found THE ONE, right here in Fairbanks! We are currently finalizing the purchase agreement and waiting on one more promised donation, but we plan to have N6190J secured before the end of the year. Some of you might recognize the airplane as the one we were planning to fly to the lower 48 when we first began raising support. We feel blessed to have a plane that we know is well-maintained and has some extra features that will be very useful, like an extended baggage compartment that adds an extra 3 feet of cargo room. Perfect for putting winter gear, which can take up a lot of space. As an added blessing, the seller of the plane is also providing some dual instruction time AND a heated hangar for a year!

An Alaska Aviation Day
As an example of why a heated hangar is such a big deal: today is the third day in a row that James has been trying to make flights out to Ruby to deliver Christmas gifts and food to the village from the Fairbanks Native Bible Church:

"Wake up at 5:00 a.m., relight the fire in the wood stove to get the house warming for the day. Temperature outside is pretty warm, 17 degrees (above zero) but still need to start the pickup to warm up. Load up flight gear, warm clothes, food, generator and extension cords. A quick breakfast and coffee to go. On the way to the airport, the snow is falling lightly; daylight is still four hours away. Even though the weather isn’t too good for flying now, the forecast is to improve by the time I’m ready to fly.

The airplane I am borrowing for this flight is parked by the float pond, away from any power..."READ MORE

PRAISE THE LORD FOR

Hot, running water! We are able to take "real" showers (in the 40* basement).

A flushable toilet on the 2nd floor...no need to trek down 2 flights of stairs (to said 40* basement) in the middle of the night :)

Help from dear friends as James continues getting the 2nd floor bathroom ready for Baby's birth

Provision of the right airplane in the right time

The celebration of the Christmas season as we focus on Christ's advent daily with our family

PLEASE PRAY FOR

A joyous home birth (due date is less than 3 weeks away: January 9!)

Continued progress on the bathroom so it is ready for the birth

The village of Ruby to be receptive through the gifts going out to them from Fairbanks Native Bible Church

Completion of the purchase agreement and outfitting of the plane. Most needs (emergency food, generator, long johns) have been acquired; a large need is 6 more sleeping bags.

Flights James will be making Dec 26, 27, 31 to take a ministry team out to Huslia

To the Praise of His Glory,

James and Shannon

PRAYING FOR EACH OF YOU A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS SEASON
We would love to have your family picture to put in our flip album we use for daily prayer reminders. Would you please share yours either via mail (below) oremail?

The girls' kuspuks are a Native Alaskan summer-weight jacket or are used to cover/protect fur parkas in the winter. We made them, and Dani knitted (without a pattern!) Shannon's beautiful wool maternity sweater.